O CANADA! - Victoria, Salt Spring Island, Vancouver Jun 2017

O CANADA!

Victoria, Salt Spring Island, Vancouver, Canada  June/July 2017

Canadian Black Bear

Between May and August we managed to get to all three countries in North America: Mexico, USA via Seattle and Alaska (which feels like another country unto itself) and Canada. 

What we anticipated to be just a relaxing month visiting our neighbors to the north turned out to be much, much more. Victoria, BC had been on Mike's list of places to see. A mild climate (for Canada), a beautiful inner harbor and Vancouver Island forests have been beckoning for years. 

We stayed at a small but nice Airbnb studio only a 15-minute walk from downtown. The couple that owned the home were wonderful, connected to a popular spa in town. The city is filled with coffee shops, cafes and, of course, amazing fresh seafood. In addition, the average age of this community, filled with retirees, made us feel positively youthful. 

One big birthday bash

We hadn't planned it but happened to be there for Canada Day...Canada 150. Going into it we figured it would be just another 4th of July type of event. 

We couldn't have been more wrong. Standing on the BC Legislature Lawn, it suddenly hit us how multicultural Canada had become. There was a sad moment when we looked at each other remembering how the USA used to feel this way. 

There was light police presence, no one checking bags for weapons and every ethnicity happily enjoying a glorious 1st of July day. It felt alien and familiar at the same time.

O' Canada!

Lighting the skies

The music was great; we particularly liked Delhi To Dublin from Vancouver who performed an interesting mix of Indian rap and Irish fiddle. 

We were happily surprised to see the very same group again a few weeks later at the Southeast Alaska Fair.

Mary meets Eileen

We made yet another connection through social media when Eileen's friend Monica from Edinburgh, Scotland messaged that her oldest sister Mary and husband Eric lived in Victoria. 

Both retired, Mary was a school principal and Eric had been director for the city water dept. There was lively conversation and had dinner at their home. We became fast friends and had a second get-together where Mary brought her delicious homemade scones.

Where it began

Being in Victoria for a month allowed for a short getaway to Salt Spring Island where Leah and Nick first met. We were tasked with finding the tree in the park where Nick was reading when Leah sent a few children to first get his attention. It became clear after a few attempts that they will need to return to figure it out themselves.

Flourishing at the Gardens

We somehow find ourselves at a botanical garden wherever we go so there was no way we were going to miss The Butchart Gardens. It comprises a number of different style gardens, including a Japanese garden which was one of Eileen's favorites.

Laughing Woman

Our second getaway was a weekend in Vancouver, where we got to travel around by boat and went to a local independent movie theater. We stayed in the West End near Stanley Park and loved the neighborhood, with great coffee shops and inexpensive Asian restaurants. 

The Agua Taxi

One afternoon was spent walking the entire seawall around Stanley Park, which is huge. 

We met with a former acquaintance from Phoenix, Yuri, as well as Simone's friend, Vidhi, who we last saw in Mumbai. A weekend wasn't nearly enough so Vancouver was officially added to our "must return to"' list.